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SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The San Francisco volleyball team closed out the non-conference portion of the 2013 season by coming away from the Aztec Invitational boasting a 3-1 record.
The Dons posted a 3-1 win against Harvard Saturday afternoon before falling to host San Diego State 3-0 in the tournament nightcap Saturday on Aztec Court. Two USF players were named to the Aztec Invitational All-Tournament squad, with junior
Valentina Zaloznik nabbing honors. The middle blocker from Ljubno ob Savinji, Slovenia, posted 49 kills on a team-high .359 hitting percentage and added an impressive 19 total blocks in USF's four matches. Freshman
Katarina Pilepic joined her as an honoree after a weekend that saw the native of Novi Vinodolski go for a team-high 51 kills on the weekend.
But many more shined for the Dons squad over the weekend, something that head coach
Gilad Doron pointed out after the action.
"We are very proud of the entire team and how we responded," Doron said. "We learned a lot more about our team depth this weekend and got three wins. At times we played with four and five freshmen on the floor and everyone stepped up."
One such freshman,
Emily Reed, made her first collegiate start on Friday and backed up her solid performances in Saturday's starts. The outside hitter from Sunnyvale, Calif., finished with 29 kills, 10 digs and nice aces for USF.
Other Dons who made their mark on the weekend's matches include team-highs of 92 assists and 38 digs from senior
Mackenzie Murtagh. Ten Dons who hit the double-digit dig mark on the weekend to contribute to the USF defense that held opponents to a .233 overall attack percentage in four matches.
Anja Segota, a junior from Pula, Croatia, finished the weekend with 38 kills to round out the top three point-scorers for the Dons.
In the first match of the day, USF started strong against Harvard. With Reed and fellow freshmen
Sophie Kuehl and Pilepic earning starting nods, the Dons were on the board first in the match after a kill from
Valentina Zaloznik. USF jumped out to a sizeable lead with effective offense that continued through the set, won by the Dons 25-20.
The second was much of the same, particularly on offense, where USF outplayed Harvard to the fullest. The Dons offense came away with a .345 hitting percentage and the defense held the Crimson to an unheralded low of .000 in the set. USF jumped out to the early 4-0 advantage, and the team never trailed in the frame. After going on an 8-0 run to end the set with a score of 25-9, USF headed to halftime with a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Crimson battled back in the third set, jumping out to a 13-4 lead before winning the frame 25-16 in the comeback bid. Â But USF was ready in the fourth, going on a five-point run that was quickly followed by a six-point run to own an 11-3 lead in the early goings of the set. Murtagh, a senior from San Francisco, finished the match with an ace and a 25-20 set win to give USF its third consecutive match victory.
The Dons kept the evening match with San Diego State tight throughout, forcing extra points in the first set after the score was tied as late as 24-24. All told, the see-saw battle saw 14 ties in the first set alone before the Aztecs scored the final points of the frame to scrape out a 26-24 set victory heading into the second.
The Dons dropped the final two sets of the tournament 25-17, 25-18 to close out the match and the tournament. After the successful weekend, the Dons move to 4-6 to finish non-conference play before heading into the rigorous West Coast Conference slate.
Up first for the Dons is another road trip south next week, and a match with Loyola Marymount on the horizon set for Thursday at 7 p.m.
